In that specification there was claimed, in combination, a clothes dryer of the type wherein an upper stem portion was slidable within a lower stem portion, and slidable over at least one portion was a bush having a series of arms pivoted thereto and radiating therefrom, the arms being movable from a retracted position with the bush in a downward location to an extended operative position with the bush in a relatively upward location, and a latch releasably retained in its upper location. The latch comprised a latching body on one of the members and the striker plate co-operable therewith on the other of the members, and the striker plate had a sliding surface spaced from the standard but facing the standard and a latching surface extending away from the sliding surface and away from the standard. The latching body was provided with a latching tongue with a ramp face which slid over the sliding surface upon upward movement of the bush, and the latching body terminated in a shoulder engageable with the latching surface of the striker plate and arranged to retain the bush and standard against relative movement when the bush was in its relative upward location the tongue being of resilient material deformable towards the standard and thereby away from the striker plate to effect release of the bush from the standard. The reader's attention is drawn to the contents of that specification, which are referred to herein only by way of explanation.
That invention has proven to be technically and commercially successful, and the invention herein relates to improvements wherein all the abovementioned elements are present, but has as its main object the provision of improvements, both of a mechanical nature, and in aesthetics.
The inner ends of the radiating arms of a clothes dryer or hoist of the above described type are provided with hinge means which, for maintenance purposes, should be readily removable and replaceable. The hinge means are not aesthetically pleasing in most instances, and a further object of this invention is to provide retention means which is readily removable from its operative position for maintenance purposes, but which functions to retain the hinge means in position so that maintenance can be facilitated, and at the same time the appearance can be markedly improved.